One of S.J Matthews, Sr.’s sons was John Huston Matthews whose family business was logging. We understand that this was his sawmill. He moved the mill around the West Point area as forests were cleared.

We hope you find some valuable, new or even some humorous information about one of your Matthews family ancestors at this web site. The site attempts to capture the full lineage of Stephen James Matthews, Sr., born circa 1814 in North Carolina or Tennessee. He lived in southern Middle Tennessee and northwest Alabama and died in Lexington, Lauderdale County, Alabama in1891. He and Catherine Price were married in Mount Pleasant, TN in 1836 and they had eight children. During his career he was an attorney (?) and postmaster.

We have seen from photocopies of his signature that he often signed his name as S. J. Matthews so we often use that convention here.

This web site is developed and maintained by a descendant of S. J.'s son John Huston Matthews. As a result most of the information here is for the John Huston lineage. We regret we have so little about our many uncles, aunts, cousins, etc., who are in the lineage of John Huston Matthews siblings. We hope you can help us flesh out the blanks in our version of the S. J. Matthews descendant tree. Join us at one of our family reunions or contact us. We certainly enjoy getting to know more of our relatives.

An important caveat: We have encountered great difficulty in gathering information about our family. We know we have many errors embedded in this information. Many of us do not have credible sources. One such problem is family lore about S. J. Matthews parents. One of our most experienced family genealogists, now deceased, believed S. J.'s father was named William Matthews. Another is the supposed connection between S. J. Matthews and Stanley Matthews of Maury County, TN; a man who became a member of the U. S. Supreme Court. We have no documentation of this connection. So if you choose to insert some of our data into your family history you might want to ask us for our sources. Much of it we have, but don't have it properly recorded.

Another critical problem we have is finding another Stephen James Matthews living in Lawrence County, TN at a time overlapping our S. J. Matthews residency there. The records of the two can easily be confused and one man's legal, newspaper, etc. records might be taken for the other. The other Matthews and his family moved on to Arkansas. Ours stayed primarily in Tennessee and Alabama.

MATTHEWS in LAWRENCE CO, TN

The 1818 Voters List [collected by David Crockett] has the following Matthews:

1.Daniel

2.Lewis

3.Jacob

Tax list of 1826 for LAWCOTN:

MATTHEWS:

1.William – 184

2.Jacob – 404

3.Thomas J. - 74 PRICE:

1.Lindsey 149

2.Samuel 344

3.Wm. 410

4.Wm Jr. 164

5.Wm, Sr. 104

LAWCOTN Index of wills, etc. 1829 – 1847 Book B:

1.Elizabeth Matthews

2.Thomas Matthews

3.William W. Matthews

NOTE:

The will for a William Matthews in Maury Co TN is very lengthy, took years to settle, but needs to be reviewed; his widow is named Elizabeth.

The 1830 LAWCOTN Head of Households were:

1.MATTHEWS, Elizabeth

2.MATTHEWS, John

3.MATTHEWS, Thomas

1.PRICE, Ezekiel

2.Price, Samuel

3.Price, Solomon

4.Price, Thomas

5.Price, William

The 1840 U. S. Federal Census of Lawrence Co TN:

Household of:

Stephen James MATTHEWS, Sr.

1 male under 5 years old

2 males ages 20-30

1 female age 20-30

1 female age 60-70

The young male is probably William Marion Matthews; born 1838.

The older males are probably Stephen James and his brother Thomas [ J. or O.? ] Matthews.

The female [20-30] would be Stephen's wife Catherine Price.The older female must be the mother of Stephen & Thomas.Irma Plott stated that Catherine's mother married a Mr. John Grimes in 1835.Catherine's father died in 1833.

Note: This Census was enumerated by THOMAS J. MATTHEWS.SJ Matthews was the first household on his schedule, and Thomas is not found elsewhere.

In the 1880 Lauderdale AL census; S. J. Matthews was the enumerator, and his was the first household on that list.

There are no Matthews in the 1850 LAWCOTN Census. [unless it was an incomplete listing]

The 1850 Mortality Schedule has:

Silas A. Mathews, age 12, born in TN, died Feb 1850, from Typhoid.Matthews Historian Irma Plott thought that SJM left Lawrence TN about 1848.

MATTHEWS IN LAUDERDALE, ALABAMA

The 1850 U.S. Federal Census of Lauderdale, AL2nd Division East of The Military Road,

Enumerated November 5, 1850

Sheet #324A; Reel No: M432-7; pg # 646:

Household of:S. J. MATTHIS [Matthews]:

S. J.36TNTax Assessor

Catherine30NC

William12TN

James10TN

Mary8TN

Thomas5TN

Elizabeth2AL

NOTE:

These records show that SJM moved to Lauderdale, Alabama between 1840- 1850.This is the first census documenting the ages and birth locations of the children.

SJ Matthews purchased land, in 1859, record in Huntsville, Alabama.

The 1866 tax list has SJ Matthews as a Lawyer.

ADDITIONAL NOTES / CHANGES:

If anyone in the family knows about the life of John Huston Matthews, we would love to have his 'story'. And any old pictures you would like to share on the website, please send them either email (jansails3rdcoast@gmail.com) or snail mail to PO Box 39 Kemah, TX 77565. I will return all hard copies I get after I scan them. Please be sure to identify your pictures with name, and dates (or just a year if that is at all possible). I have a lot of pictures to display and will be adding them as pages for them are developed. If you can identify any pictures not labeled, I would appreciate it very much.Top of Page